Why Good Pictures Bad Pictures is Way Overdue!

Today is a major milestone in publishing Good Pictures, Bad Pictures! The manuscript and illustrations are being sent (well, uploaded) to the publisher. YAY!!! (Keep reading for a sneak peek!)

But it’s way overdue. Not just because my book is so needed (wish it weren’t!). Not just because the porn industry is so predatory. (I always want to say predatorial!) But because, for many, it’s too little, too late. A book like this should have been written a decade ago.

The Elephant in the Room

Why is Good Pictures, Bad Pictures the first of its kind? This just ticks me off. I honestly don’t know why there aren’t at least a dozen books out there to empower kids so they can avoid the brain dangers of porn. Maybe it’s because pornography is that elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge. Despite the crushed people and stinky picture poop all over.

A Whole New Genre!

Good Pictures, Bad Pictureswill help kids avoid the brain-damaging and soul-crushing effects of porn consumption. But I also hope it inspires smarter and more gifted people than I am (not that hard to find!) to write anti-pornography books for kids. We need more content out there! Maybe even a whole new GENRE! “Juvenile: Growing up Porn-free.”

Test-driven and Crowd-Edited

As a final effort to make Good Pictures, Bad Pictures as kid-friendly, parent-friendly and effective as possible, we farmed the manuscript out to a dozen or so parents to read to their kids. (This is the second time we’ve done this.) Afterwards, I interviewed them for their feedback. As a result, we made lots of little changes to clarify concepts and improve word choice.

Basically, it’s been crowd-edited by parents!

And Then We Paid People

I sent our manuscript off to a professional editing group, Eschler Editing. Their children’s lit professor helped me improve the dialog between the mom, dad and son as well as make several other suggestions to improve clarity. A proof-reader found lots of stupid punctuation errors, as well as making some grammatical suggestions. What would we do without these skilled people?

Eagle Eye Friends: Every Author Needs Them

Finally, I took the professionally-edited manuscript to a few friends who have eagle eyes. Why? My author friends warned me that no one editor can catch every mistake—haven’t you had the experience of reading some NYT best seller and finding a typo? Our friends came through and we made a few more changes. Whew! What a process!

Good Pictures, Bad Pictures should be out by late February or early March 2014. It will be in paperback and later in the summer published as an e-version for the Kindle, Nook etc.

The Sneak Peek

What is this revolutionary book all about? The excerpt below is from our short, but amazingly informational introduction. Keep reading to discover the chapter titles—a glimpse into the powerful content that teaches kids about their own brains and how to use them to say no to porn.

And stay tuned! As we get closer to the launch, we plan to give away even more.

“This book is easy to read to kids.Good Pictures Bad Pictures uses the comfortable setting of a mother and son enjoying a family photo album, and models a conversation that teaches a simple definition of pornography (even for kids who have not yet learned the details of sex). Chapter by chapter, kids learn about addiction and their two brains (the feeling brain and the thinking brain) and how one of them can be tricked by viewing pornography, while the other can take control and prevent addiction.

“How the book is organized: The first seven chapters explain what pornography is and how the brain can be tricked into developing an addiction to it. Chapter 8 provides five powerful “CAN DO” strategies for dealing with exposure to pornography. Chapter 9 brings in Dad, who powerfully affirms what Mom has taught about the dangers of pornography and explains how porn can act like a poison.”

And here’s the Table of Contents!

Introduction: A Message from the Authors (Or Why We’re Not Crazy for Writing This Book!)

Chapter 1: What’s Pornography?

Chapter 2: What’s an Addiction?

Chapter 3: My Feeling Brain

Chapter 4: My Thinking Brain

Chapter 5: My Two Brains Work Together

Chapter 6: My Brain’s Attraction Center

Chapter 7: How Pornography Tricks the Brain into an Addiction

Chapter 8: My Thinking Brain’s “CAN DO” Plan!

Chapter 9: I Can Escape the Poison of Pornography

Glossary of Terms

Resources for Parents and Professionals

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Kristen A. Jenson is the founder of Protect Young Minds and author of Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today's Young Kids. Kristen enjoys speaking, writing and anything else that will help empower kids to reject pornography. Kristen earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature, and a master’s degree in Organizational Communication. Kristen currently lives with her husband in Washington State, where she enjoys growing a vegetable garden, watching Masterpiece Theater, and taking long walks with friends who tolerate her incessant talking about you know what. Above all else, her husband and three children are her greatest treasures.

7 Comments

Cindy Diehl
on November 25, 2013 at 1:43 pm

I am excited for your book finally getting to this point. What a great challenge. But the Lord knew you were a great person to do this and gave you the gift! Love, Cindy Happy Thanksgiving to you and everyone in your family

Thanks, Cindy! It’s been a 2 1/2 year journey, but definitely worth it. My test readers were grateful for the opportunity to read it to their kids. They all felt so much peace of mind after they had been able to provide their kids with a specific plan (the “CAN DO”) plan for dealing with pornography exposure.

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About Us

Led by Kristen A. Jenson, author of the best-selling children’s book Good Pictures Bad Pictures, Protect Young Minds™ (PYM) seeks to help parents “porn-proof” their kids before they come across highly addictive and easily accessible internet pornography.